Saturday, December 21, 2013

The
Criminal Minds blog will be on vacation from December 21st through January 5th.See you
back here on January 6,
2014, with a couple of new faces, fun new questions and lively discussions.We
thank you for your continued support and wish you and yours a lovely holiday
season and a Happy New Year.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Today is my last official post here at Criminal Minds. My first post was on November 21, 2010 and was called Going With My Gut on the topic of book covers.

I want to thank you all, bloggers and readers, for welcoming me, especially Kelly Stanley who invited me to join the crew. It has been a blast and I will miss it, but it's time to move on and explore new possibilities.

For the time being, my blogging will be limited to my personal blog - BABBLE 'n BLOG - which has suffered since I started with CM, and to whatever guest posts present themselves.

Just Released

I'll be writing, continuing to churn out books at a fairly fast pace. It's what I do and I need to focus more on that considering the books on the horizon yet to be penned. I just had a book released and I have two others being released in early spring, and two novels due to publishers in 2014. So have no worries, I won't be lazing about.

Speaking of which, this is the first time in years when I don't have a book due the first of January. I'm almost giddy from not having a deadline looming over my holidays like a Grinch. I really get to go to all the parties? I can actually go on vacation in December and NOT write unless I want to? I can get drunk on New Year's Eve instead of proofreading a manuscript? The mind staggers at the possibilities!

Thanks for the memories, ghosts of Criminal Minds past, present, and even future. I have loved being a part of this wonderful blog.

Speaking of ghosts of Criminal Minds future, my Friday spot will not remain empty. Beginning in January, my good friend and Shamus winning author Paul Marks will be taking my place. Please give him a warm welcome, and a bit of shit from time-to-time.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

And this is my favourite way to lead into it. I'm about 5,000 words off finishing a first draft and tomorrow, Friday, I'll be writing THE END, spell-checking it, search-and-destroying my old friends "oft he" 'is aid" and "butt he" then printing it out and dancing around the room.

Then it's Christmas.

We'll go and cut down a Christmas tree - in a place where they let you do that - decorate it, fill the house with food and drink and then comes one of my most beloved Christmas traditions. Shopping! But with a twist.

When Neil and I were penniless students - back in the early Mesolithic age - we had jobs on the Christmas post. We got paid on Christmas Eve (it was eighty pounds each one year) and then went to buy presents, paper and ribbon for our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and one or two little nephews and nieces.

Then we counted up what was left, split it and went to buy a present for each other.

These days we have no grandparents anymore but we've got sixteen nephews and nieces, some quite big, and a great-nephew and -niece too. Yikes. Great-aunt Catriona.

And because life has been kind we don't need to count the remaining change before we buy a present for each other. We don't need to but we carry on anyway. Sentimental tradition or Scottish stinginess? Who can say.

We save change in a pot all year, count it on the 23rd of December, exchange it for notes, split them and hit the streets. The rules are that you can't overspend by a penny and you've got get something from an ironmongers (hardware store), something from a charity shop (Thrift Store) something useful and at least one complete surprise.

I might buy a CA Megamillions lottery ticket tonight. The rollover is up to 400M and think of the good you could do with all that. But even if I'm a billionaire on the 23rd of December this year, I'll be skulking around the hardware store in Davis, looking for bargains, not wafting about Tiffany's in San Francisco commissioning cufflinks. And I'll still spray my Thanksgiving pumpkins gold and make them work through another holiday too.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Me....

I decided we should take this free-for-all December to get to know each other better. Here's 10 things about me. Tell me something about you I might not know....

1. I meditate every day.

2. I just finished listening to "Lost" by Chris Young (and sang along- badly)

3. I order more courses from The Great Courses then I can possibly watch in this lifetime. My latest purchase is "How to Look At and Understand Great Art." I've downloaded classes on cooking, physics, music appreciation, ancient history... I'm a sucker for easy-to-digest learning.

4. If I could play a musical instrument, it would be the violin aka the fiddle. I just like how it sounds and how versatile it is, and that - unlike a piano - you can take it with you easily, and - unlike a guitar - it isn't the preferred instrument of every lonely teenage male in America. Sadly, I have a tin ear when it comes to music.

5. I plan trips I don't take. I love to travel but I travel so much for work that it's hard to find the time or money just to vacation. Sometimes I end up making a list of cool sights in places like Stockholm or Santiago but never actually get there. That changes in 2014.

6. My favorite TV shows are all over the place - Justified, Suits, The Middle. I already miss Breaking Bad, can't wait for the final season of Mad Men. The Sons of Anarchy season finale blew me away.

7. I've had a life long crush on Dean Martin. This is so well known among my loved ones that on the night he died, I received several condolence calls.

8. My major in college was International Studies with a minor in Economics.

9. My favorite meal is a diner breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. Throw in some hot tea and an Irish sausage and I'm in heaven.

While
not the most sympathetic protagonist (she's drunk all the time; she
has an infant), the writing is honest, bold, and hilarious. (Dark
humor.) It's a memoir (meaning it's a true story of the author's
first year as a parent), and extremely well-written. The kind of book
where you're planning to meet someone for lunch and you show up a bit
early on purpose so you can catch a few minutes of reading before
they arrive.

I
always find Kim Moritsugu's writing addictive. Something about her
voice and her characters feels both familiar and fresh to me. I've
never been able to put down one of her novels. This is my favorite
yet. It's about a perfect housewife who decides to have an affair, so
she starts an exclusive dinner club as a creative way to meet men.
The cast of characters is delicious, and the book reads like a smart,
sarcastic soap opera. (Like Gossip Girl for grown-ups.)

It's
not out for release until May 2014, so I'm stoked to have an advance
copy. It's available on NetGalley
free right now—if you have an account, snag a copy.

I'm
only a few pages into this novel, and already I've found one of my
favorite lines in literature ever:

“Most
folks think of hell as some far-off pit of fire and brimstone, but
the truth is it's all around them, a hair's breadth from the world
that they can see -- always pressing, testing, threatening to break
through.”

I've
heard lots about Chris' writing from friends in the crime community,
and now I know they're right: this guy is a master craftsman. I'm
excited to keep reading this book.

Monday, December 16, 2013

This is the free-for-all month at Criminal Minds, in which
we are all invited to go over the edge and expose our innermost thoughts,
intellectual liabilities, and sentimental behaviors. This is not hard for me to
do. I enter into it lightly and without the hesitations a more sensible person
might have. You are about to get my five least favorite and five fav “things”
as of today. Feel free to chime in with your own. Or, skip my blabbing and use
your time to wrap presents and drink eggnog.

Susan’s LEAST favorites

#5 Coffee drinks that try to mix mint, pumpkin or other totally
unsuited tastes with coffee flavor. Admittedly, I have never tried one, but
really…

#4 Large cocktail parties. When I was oh so young and living
in New York, I thought they were heaven and aspired to be invited to them every
weekend. Now, I invent dying aunts and deadlines to avoid them.

#3 Cheesy Christmas displays in stores, you know the kind:
plastic ball ornaments with “Bud Light” written in snowflake script circling
the spheres, or tinselly garlands that spell out “Frank’s Auto Supply”?

#2 The fact that we are destroying the precious, almost
miraculous climate balance that makes Earth not just habitable, but stunningly
wondrous, and all so each of us (me included) can drive to around by ourselves
in our own cars and eat grapes in January.

#1 Politicians who gets elected to anything at all and then are
totally beholden to those who got them elected and those who may help get them
re-elected so they can begin raising money the next day to get re-elected yet
again. What a system.

#4 Nelson Mandela, a giant who walked among us. So funny to
read criticism of him this week for not ridding the new South Africa of crony
corruption and not bringing it to first world economic status in his four years
as president. Hello? He walked the walk of reconciliation and negotiated the
very existence of the new South Africa, where there is room for everyone to
live free. It’s up to the other 47 million South Africans to pull the load now.

#3 Chocolate. Seriously, how could there be a list of
favorites that didn’t include chocolate? I liked elegant French chocolates that
look like tiny tiles best until I tasted the elegant Berkeley chocolates Terry
brought to my last launch party. Bettina swears her native Switzerland makes
the best, and Frank gives chocolate tasting parties where we get to sample
African and South American varieties. For me, the darker the better, the
smoother the better, and the most available the best!

#2 The women in my life who have shown me how to be a better
person in their own quite different ways. Some are with us, some are no longer
present. You are my guides, you live in my heart, and I love you dearly:
Candida, Sister Samuel, Helen, Doris, Ethel, Alice.

#1 My family. Honestly, that’s not a politically correct
nod, it’s the truth. Love my sons, my like-a-son, and their talented wives and
fiancées, and the four grandkids who light up my life with smiles, hugs, and
invitations to squeeze under the bunk bed to play pirates.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Not
quite a holiday classic, the following is an encore and slight reworking of a piece
I wrote a few years ago – but apropos for this wintry season.

With
Los Angeles experiencing a cold snap, the Holidays and all the bog savings
sales on television, the pop-ups on my computer and ad slicks dropping out of
the daily paper, Christmas is surely upon us faster than Miley Cyrus next twerking
in public. For even I, a purveyor of crime and nefarious doings, hope for peace
on Earth and goodwill toward all…and Santa Claus in a line-up.As a writer of hardboiled fictive fare, I
can’t help myself but always wonder about what lies beneath the smile and
twinkle in the eye.What sort of serpentine
thoughts lay coiled in a corner of a given person’s brain?Do they take a journey now and then to the
dark side?If by some crazy set of
circumstances I got the gig to write, oh let’s say a bio-pic of a Sister Teresa-like
woman, I’d have to show her doubling down at the craps fade line after washing
lepers to show how she blows off steam.She gets in deep to a loan shark and in a pivotal scene, rips off the
charity funds for the orphans.

I
blame my warped yule outlook on Santa Claus Conquers the
Martians.This was an epic I saw
as a kid about the Martian leader kidnapping Santa Claus and a couple of Earth
kids to bring Xmas cheer to the children of Mars who lack, you know, Xmas cheer.According to the cast list on imdb.com, Pia
Zadora plays one of the Martian leader’s kids, Girmar. You remember Pia don’t
you?If not, I suggest renting The Butterfly based on the James M. Cain
novel.In this flick, Ms. Zadora plays
the scheming daughter of a lonely desert rat who returns all growed up with a
butterfly tattoo to have an incestuous thing with pops.A dodge really so she can get her mitts on
the silver in the mine he’s been guarding for years.

Anyway,
back to the Claus.In the remake of
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, ol’ St. Nick is gonna have to man up.I’m thinking not live action this time but
the story is told in elegant, retro stop motion puppetry like the Fantastic Mr. Fox.The Martian leader again sends his minions –
and you have to have a lead goon with a memorable quirk like a robot hand or
some such as Rudolph, the red-Nosed Reindeer (with a laser ray emitted from his
nose, natch) will have a showdown with this brigand.But the plot isn’t about kidnapping Santa but
about retrieving this special toy his elves have made that’s harmless on our
world, but a deadly weapon on Mars.

The
henchmen get in a shootout with the elves, who of course use super soakers
filled with mace, and some of the flying reindeer while Santa and Mrs. Claus
(an older, but nonetheless sexy, brainy woman who is the backbone of the
operation, handling inventory, toy recalls and the like) happen to be away from
the workshop saving a polar bear and her children trapped on an ice floe.Indeed the couple are lamenting the effects
of global warming when they hear the commotion from not too far away.By the time they get back to the workshop,
the Martian goons have departed with the toy, though a few of them lay bleeding
green blood into the white snow.And
Blitzen, poor, brave, Blitzen, is mortally wounded and dies in Santa’s arms.

This
time it’s personal, Santa vows, shaking his fist to the heavens.Not only is there the ticking clock of why
the hero must achieve his goal in a set time or her can’t making his pending
rounds, but he has to avenge Blitzen and save the Martian innocents.The elves work triple time and construct
specialized weaponry for Kris Kringle including devices like iPods that emit
bright pulsing light (Mars is a gloomy
planet and the Martians are light-sensitive) and kung fu grip gloves. The remaining reindeer are outfitted with
oxygen helmets and space suits, and with the missus riding shotgun hefting her
special edition GI Joe pulse rifle, it’s on to set things right on Mars.

From
19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast, credited for first depicting an
American version of Santa Claus, Frank Castle, the killing machine known as the
Punisher in comics who has donned Santa’s gala garb so as to inflict his mayhem
on unsuspecting mobsters, old school illustrations with the Claus selling Pepsi
or Lucky Strike cigarettes (my dad’s brand), to my man David Walker's Badazz Mofo Productions, Black
Santa’s Revenge: He Knows When You’ve Been Naughty, Santa is a man for
all seasons and tastes.

When I write a first draft, I plow through, from beginning to end. I don’t go back and edit what I’ve written along the way. If I change a character’s name halfway through, I don’t go back and change it. If I add a subplot or change a location or introduce a new character altogether, I don’t go back and fix things up. If I don’t know the name of something (or if I forget the name of a character), I put in XXXX and keep on typing, knowing I’ll take care of it later. Ever forward.

My rationale:

This strategy was borne of laziness. I don’t want to spend time editing and revising something that’s going to get cut in the second draft. So I put on my blinders, sit down, and pound out the best story I can (I do outline, which keeps me somewhat on track). As I go along, I note all the changes I’ve made so I can go back and fix things. Once I’ve finished, I can step back and take an objective look at the entire hot mess. Invariably, it needs a lot of work.

But I guess that’s what the revision process is for.

How about you, writers? Do you fix/edit/revise as you go? Or do you wait until everything’s done and go back and fix it then, once you see the big picture?

Top Ten Best Things About A First Draft

10. You can test-drive a few adverbs without getting yelled at.9. It actually sounds better when read aloud with an Inspector Clouseau accent.8. It provides amusement for your critique partners.7. You can use lame jokes, stereotypes, bad grammar, and stilted dialogue, knowing (hoping?) they'll disappear during the revision process.6. It's a good way to use up scratch paper.5. You don't have to show it to your agent, editor, or spouse.4. Your dog/cat/gerbil thinks it's terrific, no matter how many words are misspelled.3. It makes good kindling.2. It helps support the market for red pens.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

So, my Christmas present
came early this year. It was a charming little thing called “A Root Canal
Without Dental Insurance.” While I sat there in the dentist’s chair, trying to
answer social questions through an awkward system of hand gestures and grunts
that would no doubt lead to my immediate imprisonment in certain countries, I began
to think of murder. Not for my dentist. No, he was a nice man, even if he did
feel compelled to fish out the calcium deposits that were nestled amid my nerves
and show them to me one by one. He seemed particularly impressed with my roots.
It seems they are extremely long. Longer than his instruments could reach
without, as he so appealingly put it, “breaking off in your mouth.”We both agreed this would be a bad thing and
something to avoid. But amidst the grunts, drilling, and show and tell, my
mind, perhaps encouraged by our talk of “bad things,” wandered to murder.

And, it being the
Christmas Season, I began to think of things that really piss me off this time
of year. They are – in no particular order – as follows:

oPeople who send out their Christmas cards the
day after Thanksgiving.Thanks! I’ve
barely had time to clean up the turkey mess and here you are wishing me joy for
Christmas. Except you’re not. You’re rubbing it in my face that I’m already a
holiday behind. “Feliz Navidad" my ass.

oMall Santas on a smoke break. Thanks, Mall Santa!
You’ve horrified my ten-year-old son. Don’t you know that nowadays they teach
kids that smoking is right up there with crack?Next time, why don’t you just wrap a tourniquet around your arm, whip
out a syringe, and be done with it?

oPeople who regift. “Why, thank you! This ceramic
angel with the giant eyes holding a puppy is just what I’ve always wanted! And
bonus! Not only is it unique, but educational. Who knew that angels could
suffer from Graves Disease?”

oPeople who get far too creative with their Elf
on a Shelf. “Hey, Mom! Timmy’s elf was hiding in his cereal box with a little
carton of milk and a spoon! Why does mine only move around on my bookshelf?”
Now my son thinks his elf – much like his tooth fairy – is a slacker who may
have a substance abuse problem.

oPeople who get all their shopping done in June.
And then tell everyone they know what they’ve done. Congratulations, Dante has
a special circle in hell for you. And, just like you, he generated it long
before you needed it.

oPeople who are under the age of ninety and wear
Christmas sweaters.

oPeople who are under the age of ninety and give
Christmas sweaters.

oOffices that – for their Holiday party – rent
out a local bar/restaurant, black out the windows with paper, and then issue a
mandate that no spouses/significant others can come. (Husband used to work for
firm that did this. People would stumble out of the party too full of the
holiday “spirit” to speak.)

oLawn decorations that aim for both the secular
and the religious. We once were neighbors with a family that positioned their Nativity
scene in such a way that the baby Jesus always appeared to be moments away from
being trampled to death by Santa and his charging reindeer.

So, it may be that
once my mouth-drugs wear off, so too will my Grinch spirit.But, I doubt it. In the meantime, please
share with me your top holiday peeves. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go
and wrap my post root canal x-rays.Merry Christmas.

Monday, December 9, 2013

We had freezing rain on Sunday here in Virginia and there was major panic from my fellow locals. They all ran out and bought extra milk, bread, water, batteries and toilet paper. And what did I do? I stayed home and revised my book (making sure my laptop was fully charged--just in case we lost power) because I am a writer and that's what writers do.

Revisions always take way longer than I think they will. For a first draft I usually give myself a word count goal and I feel elated as I watch the number of words pile up every day. But when I get to the end, it's time to take a cold hard look at what I've written. And most of it has to go.

I just finished teaching a novel writing class, and I always try to be honest with my students. "How many revisions do you do?" they ask me. And I realize that I have no idea. Does a partial rewrite of the first 30 pages count? Does going through to make sure some detail got changed throughout the book count? But if you're talking full revisions where I go through and try to make each detail as strong and true as possible, I would guess at least 9 times. But it could be more...

Revising does not sound like fun to most people, and my many of my novel writing students' eyes glaze over at the thought. Even some professional writers hate revising passionately. But I love to dig deep and see my story get better and better.

So bring on the bad winter weather (just leave on the heat and electricity, please). I will use it as an excuse to stay home and get my next book polished. And hopefully I'll have my book all finished soon. At least this draft.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Every once in a while, a crime fiction book goes viral and
crosses over into mainstream reading, selling millions of copies. Last year it
was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. A
well-known reviewer claimed that “part of its success, I believe, is this current
vogue for the unreliable narrator and also the unlikable protagonist. This book
has both these factors in spades.”

Those features typically are more common in mainstream
fiction than in mysteries and thrillers, but the trend is growing in crime
fiction too, and readers are often divided on whether it works for them.

As a reader, I don’t connect well with unlikable main
characters, but I can occasionally enjoy unreliable narrators because they add
uncertainty, creepiness, and distrust to whole the story. Yet as a writer, I
haven’t tried that structure and maybe never will. My connection with readers
feels too important to abuse. And by nature, I’m painfully honest. So the idea
of lying—directly—to my readers is foreign to me.

However, I’ve recently discovered that I love writing from
the perspective of a protagonist who practices deception with others in the
story. When I was researching Crimes of
Memory, my eighth Detective Jackson story, an FBI agent I interviewed mentioned
a real case involving the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front and how the
bureau used an undercover agent to break the case and arrest nearly all the
members.

I knew immediately I needed to add that element to my story
for realism. So I created Agent Jamie Dallas, a young woman who specializes in
undercover work—and has to lie, cheat, steal files, seduce targets, and put on
performances to accomplish her goals. Once I got inside her head and wrote her
part, I had so much fun, I knew she had to have her own series.

The Trigger,
launching January 1, is the first book featuring Agent Dallas as the main
character. But even though she lies to, and spies on, the people in the prepper
community she infiltrates, she doesn’t lie to readers. She doesn’t hold back
either. She’s not only reliable, she kicks ass on occasion too. All of it,
deception included, is for the sake and safety of her country, but Dallas loves
her work in a special way.

Readers who recently encountered the agent in Crimes of Memory say Dallas stole the
show. So it’s fair to say she’s likable, even though she’s a chameleon on the
job. But you can decide for yourself.

If you buy a copy on January 1 and forward the Amazon
receipt to lj@ljsellers.com, you’ll be
entered to win a trip to Left Coast
Crime 2015. Even if you miss the grand prize, I’m giving away ten $50 gift
certificates too. And to celebrate the new series, the ebook will be priced at
$.99 on launch day. You can see more details at my website. (http://bit.ly/I1audT)

What about you? Do you like unreliable narrators? What about
characters who lie for a good cause?

L.J. Sellers writes the bestselling Detective Jackson
mystery series—a two-time Readers Favorite Award winner—as well as provocative
standalone thrillers. Her novels have been highly praised by reviewers, and her
Jackson books are the highest-rated crime fiction on Amazon. L.J. resides in
Eugene, Oregon where most of her novels are set and is an award-winning
journalist who earned the Grand Neal. When not plotting murders, she enjoys
standup comedy, cycling, social networking, and attending mystery conferences.
She’s also been known to jump out of airplanes.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

The last couple of days, I've been what we Scots call awfy no weel. Felt a bit plain on Monday and then woke up on Tuesday morning thinking: what's that noise? It sounded like a portion of over-thick, under-blended soup boiling hard in the bottom of a high-sided pot. Turned out it was me, breathing. When I sat up, I started coughing; when I stood up, I started shivering; when I moved , my eyes went all FX - making lines that streamed out behind things that don't usually have lines streaming out behind them.

So I took a day off work. Actually two. And taking two days off work when you're a self-employed writer is not like taking a day off from an office, shop, factory or farm.

On the upside, you don't have to ask anyone or fill in any forms. On the downside, nobody does your work for you while you're ill; it's all still there when you're better. (But what a great idea - substitute writers!)

On the unexpected side was how quickly I came to believe I'd found my new calling. The undergardener brought me story discs (Stephen King, Alexander McCall Smith, Kate Atkinson and Patricia Cornwell), DVDs (Midsomer Murders), a bunch of flowers and a box of lotion-soft hankies.

There was coffee, soup, ice-cream, ibuprofen and pillows and by lunchtime yesterday I had decided I was never getting up, getting dressed or going outside ever again. Bed is bliss - soft, warm, comforting; there are fifteen seasons of Midsomer Murders - soft, warm, comforting - available to download or stream (and since I fell asleep for big chunks of every episode anyway, I would literally never run out of new bits to watch); jammies are better than all other clothes in every way - soft, warm, comforting - no waistbands or buttons, no need for earrings.

This was my new life. Probably the undergardener would take some persuading, but even if he refused to keep bringing me supplies of ice-cream and story discs, I could order everything online. I had plenty of time to cancel Left Coast Crime, Malice and Bouchercon. I wouldn't even suffer financially for a while - my next two books are written and it'd be a year before anyone even noticed I'd become a recluse.

Okay, I'd probably end up as one of those people who, when they die, contractors come and remove one of the walls of their house and winch them out with a crane, but it was so soft and warm and comforting.

And I had all the zeal of the convert. I laughed at my former self - cycling, walking up and down hills for no reason at all, gardening instead of just keeping the curtains closed, cooking things when there's perfectly good food already made for you in the supermarkets, turning pages and swiveling my eyes when there are stories on CDs and DVDs that let you just slump. Yep, this was it. This was the future.

Then about five o'clock today the rot set in. I was asleep when the phone binged to say I had a text. It was the undergardener and he was bringing home a Chinese carry-out. I put the phone down, paused Midsomer Murders and, before I knew what had happened, I was in the kitchen, putting plates in the oven to warm, setting out napkins and chopsticks, filling the dishwasher, sorting out the junk mail for recycling.

So my new life as a happy slob looks to be over, only two days after it began. I'm better. It wasn't even proper flu. Tomorrow - waistband, buttons, earrings and swiveling eyes. But it was fun while it lasted and I've still got the cough to remember it by.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

GOING BLANK

by Clare O'Donohue

This month we're writing whatever we want... and naturally this felt exciting. No, that's not it. Free-ing. Nope, wrong again. Filled with dread and panic. Yep. That's what I felt when I saw this as the "topic".

Why? Cause it's the blank page. Writers face the blank page every day and are filled with the same fear. Some are so overwhelmed by it that they head to Facebook for comfort and let the day, the month, the year, slip by without ever writing a word.

Sure, a blank page doesn't seem all that terrifying up against, say, a charging lion. But it is. Especially when you consider the odds of a lion coming toward me, teeth bared, are slim, while the blank page on my computer screen is daily and on-going.

If I were a wise person I would note that life is like that too - the first day of school, a new job, a new relationship, moving to a new city... all blank pages that are teeth-baring lions. And once we face them, they usually turn out to have all the terror of purring kittens.

So I look right at my blank page and kill its creamy white nothingness.

I put words on a page, sometimes coherent, sometimes rambling. I don't worry about writing a masterpiece, or even a good book. It's just a first draft. Time for worry about "good" later. For now I turn words into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs, and pages, and chapters, and the first draft of books.

You can deal with a charging lion by turning to run (in fact, if you encounter an ACTUAL charging lion, running is probably not the worst idea) or you can deal with it by facing it head on - killing the blank scary page, one word at a time.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

I live on the west
coast, but Toronto is my hometown, so I couldn't help but be drawn into following the roller coaster saga that has been Rob Ford's mayoral career.

The left wing press
has been hating on Ford since before he was elected. And fair enough:
he's right wing. He's also easy to demonize because he makes
outrageous statements and alienates people he doesn't like.

But I liked Ford's
policy.

When we lived in
Toronto, my husband owned a bar. At the time, we had a left wing
mayor, a left and corrupt premier of the province, and a leftish
prime minister of Canada. During the same period, Toronto was rated
the worst city in North America in which to own a business because of
the high taxes and overregulation from all levels of government.

So even though we
were already in Vancouver when Ford was elected, I was happy for
Toronto when he won. He ran on a platform he adhered to (strange,
right?), and from what I could see (and hear from my friends and
family back home) he tightened Toronto's way-too-loose budget and
saved taxpayers money.

Good stuff.

Then he was caught
smoking crack.

Like anyone else, I
look for the benefit of the doubt when it comes to someone I like. So
Toronto's liberal downtown core pounced on Ford and wanted him out. I
ignored their protests because they already hated Ford.

I saw him as a
modern day Winston Churchill, someone who drank too much and spoke
his mind too freely to be accepted by the politically correct set.
But since I'm not a member of that set, I continued to like him as
mayor.

I wanted to explore who he could be if the entire benefit of the
doubt swings his way. I know that's unlikely. The more research I do
into him reveals darker layers and less doubt to place him on the
good side of.

But that's fine. It's fiction. It's fun. And I enjoyed the hell out
of watching The Sopranos even though Tony's a cold-blooded killer.

Monday, December 2, 2013

We’ve been given free rein this month, which means a totally
blank canvas and, for me, a totally empty brain. I thought I’d look at our
happy blog catch phrase for inspiration.

“Writing” – I’m struggling with revisions for my third Dani
O’Rourke, in part because my delightful publishers informed me cutting the
brakes in a car is so cliché. I’ve now asked four guys what they’d do if they
had to disable a car they didn’t know well, a modern car with electronics and
disc brakes and power locks. “Cut the brakes” was the answer times four, even
though with independent braking systems, not all braking power would be cut. It
would still be an accident waiting to happen on a hill. This is the kind of
not-fun work that writers do, the situations that make us run screaming from
the computer. It means pushing back with the editors or reimagining an entire
plot in the story. Is it too early in the day for spiked eggnog?

“Reading” – I made the mistake of starting the Illiad (Fagles’ translation) and The Judgment of Paris (Ross King on the
birth of Impressionism) in late October, thinking such a steady diet of crime
fiction needed to be broken up. Now, my pride won’t let me quit either of
those, but Sara Paretsky’s personally signed latest V.I. story, Critical Mass, demands my attention, as
do the latest by Dennis Lehane, Michael Stanley, Hallie Ephron, and Sara Henry
(among way too many others). But until I get said revisions off my desk,
reading from my TBR pile is out of the question. Is it too early in the day for
more spiked eggnog?

“Murder” – I would never, never think about murdering anyone
except in my books, but I’ll bet I’m not the first writer who has wondered just
a teensy bit about the way recalcitrant editors might suffer and perish. (Just
kidding, editors…) I live in the San Francisco area and our local paper leads
with local murders, of which there are far too many. Real ones, where families
suffer and the police flounder, and witnesses are silent, and it’s all far too
dreary and tragic to read about every day. It definitely isn’t too early for
bourbon laced with a little eggnog.

“Mayhem” – “actions
that hurt people and destroy things : a scene or situation that involves a lot
of violence” (Merriam-Webster) . Creating mayhem in a story is surprisingly
enjoyable, and I wonder why that is? Maybe because I would never allow myself
to throw china, deliberately hit the car in front of me, smash down a door. Imagining
it concretely enough to write a believable scene is both a challenge and a
release, and I was deeply gratified when the violent climax of my first book
for a thumbs up from the editors and readers. That’s something for me to
remember as I go back to my current problem and try to figure out what mayhem I
can create that will satisfy me, and my editors, today. No more eggnog until I’m
done.

Q&A with Criminal Minds!

Question of the Week

Each week the crime fiction authors of Criminal Minds respond to a question about writing, reading, murder and mayhem.Question of the Week:How do you choose your titles? Put a bunch of words in a hat and pull them out at random? Use a title generator? Does your publisher do it? Do you find it easy or hard? Do you start with a working title, or just start writing? Has the title ever stayed the same? Is there a title you wish you could steal?

Join the Community

Mondays with Susan

Susan C. Shea debuts a new series, a French village mystery, Love & Death in Burgundy in spring 2017 (St. Martin's Minotaur). The third in her Dani O'Rourke series came out in Feb. 2016. She lives in Marin County, CA.

Mondays with Brenda

With numerous award nominations for her books, Brenda Chapman pens the Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series; the Anna Sweet novellas for adult literacy; and the Jennifer Bannon mysteries for young adults. Booklist recommends the Stonechild series "highly to crime-fiction fans looking for a new author". Brenda lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Tuesdays with Terry

Terry Shames writes the Macavity Award-winning Samuel Craddock series, set in small-town Texas. In 2015 BookPeople dubbed her one of the top five Texas mystery authors.

Tuesdays with R.J.

R.J. Harlick is the author of the acclaimed Meg Harris mystery series set in the wilds of Quebec. Her love for Canada’s untamed wilds is the inspiration for her series. The 4th book, Arctic Blue Death, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Wednesdays with Cathy

Cathy Ace writes the globe-trotting Cait Morgan Mysteries, (Bony Blithe winner 2015 - Agatha’s Canadian cousin), and the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, set in her native Wales. She lives in rural British Columbia.

Wednesdays with Dietrich

Dietrich Kalteis is the award-winning author of Ride the Lightning, The Deadbeat Club, Triggerfish, House of Blazes and Zero Avenue. Nearly fifty of his short stories have been published, and he lives with his family on Canada’s west coast.

Thursdays with Catriona

Catriona McPherson is the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity, IndieFab and Lefty winning author of the DANDY GILVER series set in Scotland in the 1920s, as well as two darker stand-alones AS SHE LEFT IT and THE DAY SHE DIED. Catriona lives in northern California with a black cat and a scientist.

Thursdays with Jim

James W. Ziskin (Jim to his friends) is the author of the Edgar-, Anthony-, Barry-, Lefty-, and Macavity-nominated Ellie Stone Mysteries. He's 6'2", weighs 200 pounds, and writes like a girl.

Fridays with Paul

Paul D. Marks pulled a gun on the LAPD...and lived to tell about. A former "script doctor," Paul's novel WHITE HEAT is a 2013 SHAMUS AWARD WINNER. Publishers Weekly calls WHITE HEAT a "taut crime yarn." Paul is also the author of over thirty published short stories in a variety of genres, including several award winners. GHOSTS OF BUNKER HILL, from the 12/16 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Readers Poll.

Fridays with Danny

Danny Gardner's work has appeared in Beat to a Pulp, Out of the Gutter, and Literary Orphans Journal. His first novel, A NEGRO AND AN OFAY, will be released May 2017 by Down And Out Books. His short fiction will be featured in JUST TO WATCH HIM DIE, a Johnny Cash inspired anthology, published by Gutter Books in Winter 2016.